Boulevard of Almost Broken Dreams
by thatravenclawgirl
Summary: When Nico di Angelo learns that his mama and beautiful sister has died in a car crash, nothing is ever the same- but can something good come out of such a bad thing? One sided Perico. Valdangelo. Leico. LeoxNico. MalexMale. Whatever floats your boat- you get the general idea. Psychiatric ward AU.


Nico stares at the TV screen wondering how the absolute _fuck_ this woman doesn't lose her mind. This woman, Mary or Molly or something like that, has 19 fucking kids and she is the happiest goddamn person on Earth. She talks nonstop about God and the Holy Words of the Bible, and feeling blessed. _Blessed_ that she has birthed half the world's population. _Blessed_ that she has Bible verses for every situation in the day. _Blessed_ that she dresses her children like the Amish. Blessed blessed blessed. All day, every day. Nico wishes she would come over and meet him, so some of her sickly sweet enthusiasm could rub off on him.

"Yo, Nico!" Percy exclaims as he walks into the room. Then, looking at the TV screen, he adds "What the hell are you watching?"

"Some stupid show about those two sex addicts," Nico deadpans and Percy laughs.

"That is probably the best description of the Duggars ever."

Percy walks over to his bed and grabs his book bag from his bed, shooting a smirk at Nico. Nico has to repress a silly grin because whenever Percy smirks or looks at Nico in general, it makes his life seem less shitty than it actually is.

"So where are you going?" Nico asks, although he already knows the answer.

"To Annabeth's new apartment." Percy gets a goofy smile on his face and Nico deflates into himself.

"Oh, cool."

"Yep. Rachel is out at an art gallery and Reyna is doing some weekend hiking thing in the Appalachians." Percy waves his book bag in front of Nico, smiling like an idiot. "Annabeth invited me over for, uh, a _celebratory dinner_ for getting her first apartment."

Nico manages a smile, but it comes out as a grimace. Percy, however, doesn't see it and quietly leaves the room. Nico returns his attention to the happy ass woman and lets her squeaky voice lull him to sleep.

It's around 3:00 in the morning when Nico's cell phone goes off. At first he's confused- his ringtone isn't One Direction, but he remembers the time when his cousin Thalia was being a douche and made her ringtone the annoying pop song. He never learned how to change it, so now whenever his cousin calls What Makes You Beautiful blares out from his iPhone.

Nico reaches out to the bed table and punches the 'Answer Call' button.

"Thalia its three o'clock in the fucking morning. What the hell do you want?" he croaks.

"Nico, it's Bianca and Aunt Maria," Thalia says urgently. In the background he can hear sirens from emergency vehicles and loud screams.

"Thalia what's going on?" Nico asks, fear lacing his voice. At first Thalia can't answer because she's crying too hard.

"I tried Nico!" she screams so loudly that Nico has to momentarily hold his phone away from his ear. "I tried so fucking hard! We- Bianca, your mom, and me- were all driving home from Christmas shopping and we- we- we s-slid on some black ice." Nico feels dread seep into his soul, filling him with a numb sort of feeling.

"Thalia, what happened?" Nico asks, surprising even himself at how calm he sounds.

"A speeding c-car crashed into us w-while we were spinning," Thalia whispered. "They're all dead Nico. All of them!" she screams, surprising Nico with her sudden crescendo. "I FREAKING ESCAPED WITH A BROKEN LEG AND THEY ALL DIED. NICO THERE'S NOT A GOD BECAUSE IF THERE FUCKING WAS THEN I WOULD'VE DIED TOO. IT'S BULLSHIT." Then, lowering her voice, she adds "I-I saw them die, Nico. Aunt Maria's g-guts went all over the w-windshield. B-Bianca's head was all b-bloody. Nico, I have to go," Thalia's voice starts to shake even worse than before. "I have to go to the hospital and they're going to call Jason."

"Goodbye, Thals," Nico says, sounding oddly detached. He ends the call before any more devastating news can be delivered.

Nico is in denial. Bianca and his _mama_ cannot be dead. He saw them all last weekend. They were all laughing about the Christmas and what they were going to get each other. Nico had felt happy for the first time in _months_. Bianca whispered to him that she was going to get him the entire series of _America's Next Top Model _to which Nico stuck his tongue out and locked his sister in a headlock. Bianca laughed and laughed, filling Nico with her contagious happiness.

Nico had felt _happy_. A feeling that was nearly foreign to him.

And now he was completely numb. Incapable of feeling, hearing, or comprehending anything around him.

Not knowing what he was doing, Nico stood up. As soon as he did so, everything hit him, hard. _Bianca and _Mama_ are dead. _The sudden realization of this hit Nico like a train. He fell to the ground like a dead weight. His everything was _gone_. All because of some stupid black ice and another stupid ass driver who thought it was going to be great fucking idea to speed during the middle of winter. Thalia was still alive, but it didn't count. She didn't have Bianca's olive oil smelling hair or the way _Mama _would dance around the house, singing Italian songs, or Bianca's olive skin or Bianca's dark brown eyes that would sparkle whenever she was happy or laughing or _Mama's _soft but careworn hands that would wipe his eyes whenever he would come home sobbing.

Bianca and his _mama_, his _everything_, were gone. Forever. All because of some stupid decision to go late night shopping.

Nico stands up again, his mind a whirl of black hair, olive skin and laughing smiles. He crosses the dorm and grabs his book bag. At first he was careful, and trying to be calm, but soon his shaking fingers were tearing papers and forcefully chucking things across the room looking for _it_ because without _it_ he knew he was going to go crazy- crazier than he already was.

Suddenly his long and nimble fingers clutch a cool metallic object. Nico pushes his sleeve and brings the blade to his pale, smooth forearm skin, cutting it deep. Any normal person would've gasped in pain, but not Nico. He regarded the pain as a long lost friend; one he wasn't typically keen on seeing again. But as soon as he starts, he's addicted. Soon he can no longer tell what part of his arm is skin and what part is blood. He can tell he's losing a lot of blood and will probably die- but he doesn't care. He can't _feel_ anything. So he continues his frenzied cutting.

Just when Nico is sure he's either going to die or pass out from loss of blood, Percy opens the door.

"Rachel came back and threw me out of the damn apartme- NICO, OH MY GOD!"

Nico hears running footsteps and a smooth female voice saying _911, what's your emergency? _ before the world dissolves and Nico happily lets the darkness consume him.

When Nico wakes up, he's confused. He's supposed to be dead, never to wake up again. Maybe he is dead. He's in a completely white bedroom, with white washed walls, a mattress- not a bed, just a mattress sitting on the ground- with white sheets and a white pillow. Nico looks down and finds that a duffle bag full of his clothes, socks, deodorant, and other toiletries is resting against the mattress. He finds he is no longer in the clothes that he nearly died in; he's in a long sleeved Green Day shirt, sweat pants and black ankle socks- not the dark green hoodie, red T-shirt and flannel pajama pants he passed out in. The room is dead silent, freaking Nico out. There's no windows and no clocks (well there _is_ one on the wall, but the second hand hasn't moved for five minutes so he assumes the clock is broken) so he can't tell what time it is.

Nico finds the door, a dark brown wood rectangle against a starch white background. He fumbles around for the door handle before realizing he had to push a button to open the door.

"Weird," Nico murmurs, pushing the button. The door springs open, giving way to a hallway with white floor tiles and white painted walls.

Nico is almost sure he is dead. He has never been in a place so quiet or so _white_ in his life. Besides the occasional brown door, the place was white. There were no electrical outlets, which Nico finds strange. Suddenly a thought struck Nico. _Maybe I can call Bianca or _Mama_._

He fumbles around in his pockets, feeling for the hard rectangle of his cell phone. He finds nothing and curses loudly. Then suddenly he realizes that Bianca and his _mama _died in a car crash. The sudden memory slams into him like a ton of bricks. Nico debates on whether or not to go back to the room he came from, but he can't remember the room number and he doesn't have the energy to walk back- he has no motivation.

Nico finds a corner and curls up, bringing his knees to his chin. He puts his head on his knees and hugs his legs and falls asleep wondering where in the hell he is.

"Chiron, is he dead?"

"Leo, don't be rude!"

"I'm not being rude, Piper. I'm simply asking a question. And besides, he's outside of _my_ room."

Nico's eyes flutter open. He feels drained, and just the simple action of opening his eyelids makes him want to fall back into a deep slumber.

"Where am I?" Nico croaks. Three faces stare down at him, but Nico doesn't remove his head from his knees.

"You're at Olympus Psychiatric Ward," a boy with a mop of curly brown hair and dark brown eyes that sparkle with mischief that look so much like Bianca's after she stole Nico a cookie from the cookie bowl when they were younger says. "The place for mentally fucked up people."

"Leo!" a girl with choppy brown hair and kaleidoscope eyes says at the same time a middle aged man with greying brown hair and a beard.

"I was supposed to die," Nico says miserably. "I was supposed to be with my sister and _mama _again. And now I'm in a fucking mental hospital."

"You were the kid who cut through the artery, weren't you?" Leo asks his eyes wide. "Dude, I heard the nurses talking about you. They said that your blood was all over your dorm. Your roommate or whatever was freaking out. You lost like three or four pints of blood. It apparently looked like a murder crime sc-"

"Leo, enough," the man with the beard interrupts. Nico feels guilt knotting his insides. It would've been better if Percy had spent the entire night with Annabeth. What Percy didn't understand that he was causing Nico _more_ pain by delaying his death than if Nico had died in the dorm.

Leo deflates a little, and then says "Whatever, Chiron," and rolling his eyes, trying to keep up his jokester act.

"Leo and Piper will you take Mr. di Angelo to the cafeteria? Breakfast is about to begin and schedules will be passed out then." Chiron gives all of them a warm smile and walks away.

"You heard him kid," Leo says, reaching down to pull Nico up. Before Nico can flinch away or push Leo off, Leo grabs Nico's arm, causing white hot pain to shoot up his arm and he gasps out in pain.

"Ow ow ow ow! Fuck you!" Nico hisses cradling his arm. Piper kneels down next to Nico and gently pushes his sleeves up. He wants to tell her to fuck off, but her gentleness reminds him of Bianca although Piper looks nothing like his dead sister.

"Holy shit," Piper says. "You really fucked up your arms."

Nico looks at his arms and nearly passes out. It doesn't even look like skin. They look like red, throbbing slices of meat attached to his shoulders. Someone had put antiseptics on them, making the torn up skin look shiny.

"Oh my God…" Leo says, flabbergasted. "Holy fuck man, I didn't know how bad they were."

Nico doesn't answer- just pushes himself up and glares at Leo. Piper's kaleidoscope eyes go out of focus and she stares out into space just behind Nico's shoulder.

"Yeah, I know Macy," Piper says, sounding annoyed. Nico looks behind his shoulder but doesn't see anyone there.

"I realize that," Piper continues. "It's just that… I'm not going to date him, Christ!" Her voice rises in anger. Nico double checks over his shoulder to make 100% sure that no one is behind him. As before, there's just a white wall.

"She's schizophrenic," Leo whispers to Nico. Nico frowns. Leo takes Piper's arm, jolting her back to reality. "Come on Beauty Queen McLean, time for breakfast. You too, Nicki."

"Do not call me Nicki," Nico growls and for a second Leo backs up, obviously scared.

"Leo, I'm hungry!" Piper whines, tugging at Leo's sleeve.

"C'mon, friends!" Leo laughs and waves his hand down the hall. He starts to walk down the hall, and Nico, not knowing what else to do, follows him and Piper down the hall.

As Nico follows the strange duo down the halls, he sees a lot of college and middle aged people (mostly females) wandering around the halls until either a nurse shuffles them away or they just go back into the room they came out of. Nico wishes he could just go back into his room and fall asleep. He just wishes he was dead. He doesn't know where he is, he doesn't know who these people are, he doesn't know where Thalia is; he doesn't know _anything_.

Piper, seeming to notice his confusion, turns to him.

"Macy tells me that you're distressed about being here. Don't worry; you'll probably be out in one or two weeks. I'm supposing you're here for being depressed and or suicidal. Right?" Piper turns her face towards Nico, sending her choppy brown hair flying, smacking Leo in the face.

"How long have you been here?" Nico asks Piper. She tenses and stops dead. She turns to the side, as if having a conversation with someone.

"I can tell him, Macy," she says. Leo rolls his eyes as if this is completely normal.

"…"

"Why do you care so much?" Piper snaps at the air.

"…"

"I will take the goddamn medicine if you don't shut the hell up!" Piper screams. She throws her arms in the air, as if warding off an attack.

"Piper!" Leo says sternly. "I'm hungry so either tell Macy to shut up or we will leave."

Piper shuts her mouth and starts walking again. Nico can hear her mumbling to herself. Leo starts to fiddle with his hair, twisting it around his fingers, then letting go of it to let the lock spring back into a curl.

When Nico arrives at breakfast, he finds out it's a buffet style, like the school cafeteria lunch line. He immediately thinks of how his _mama_ would pack him a lunch everyday so he wouldn't have to face the cigarette smelling lunch lady who would sometimes take money from the cash register and stuff it in her bra. Nico can almost smell the fresh baked bread his _mama_ would make, and then reality slaps him in the face, sending him on a one way trip to the floor. He can't move, he can't feel. He's lying on his stomach, staring at the white tiles. He's pretty sure he can taste blood, but he's devoid of all senses.

Nico hears someone screaming, but it seems distant- like the person is at one end of a tunnel while Nico is at the other end. He feels something grab his shirt sleeve, yank it upwards and he feels something stab into his arm. He feels his mind go completely blank, like someone was erasing a drawing, a little bit at a time until it was all gone and all that was left was a white sheet of nothingness.

Nico wakes up for the second time in one day not knowing where he is. His cheeks are tight with dried tears and his ears ring like he had been listening to someone screaming. His arms feel like one giant heartbeat, throbbing in rhythm to his heart that refuses to stop beating despite all his efforts.

Nico pushes himself up from lying on his back and discovers he's in another completely white room. For some reason the floor is spongy; like the thick padding that new parents put on all the corners of their house when their child is born. This room is about the same size as the room he originally woke up in, except this one has no furniture and no door. Nico presses his pale fingers against the walls and discover that they are the same Styrofoam-y material as the floor. He knows exactly where he is. He's in one of those padded rooms for the insane people.

He needs to get out of here. It's too quiet- too much emptiness for a person to think. Nico starts to inch around the room, looking for a way out. When he can't find the seam that held the door, he breaks down. He starts swearing at Bianca for leaving him, he sobs at his _mama_ for being the ultimate Christmas shopper, he screams at Thalia for living while everyone else lived, he yells at Thalia's mom for being such a bitch, he curses at his father who left his _mama_ when she was two weeks from Nico's due date; he screams and sobs until his throat is so raw he doubts he can speak for the next year. Even then, he collapses on the floor and cries silently. He wishes he were dead more than anything in the world. If he died then he would be at peace. He would see his beautiful _mama_ and sister. He wouldn't be such a burden. He would stop feeling the way he does towards Percy. Everything would be gone. But it wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Nico's tears suddenly shut down like a faucet being turned off. He is tired of crying; tired of pretending that everything is okay when everything is not okay- in fact it is the shittiest thing Nico has ever seen in his short, pathetic life. He lies on his back, staring up at the snow white ceiling until he hears a door open. A young woman with auburn hair helps him up with her gentle but firm hands. She places one hand on the small of his back and the other holds something behind her back. Nico thinks it's a needle, but he can't bring himself to care. Bianca and his _mama_ are dead. Nothing matters to Nico. He's empty.

"You've lost a few points," the woman informs Nico. She has bright green eyes, reminding Nico of Percy's. Her name tag reveals her to be Juniper Green.

"What?" Nico croaks out. His throat hurts like hell and he can barely manage something above a whisper.

"Points," she repeats, "they determine when you can leave."

"What if I don't want to leave?"

"Don't worry, sweetie," she says, and gives Nico an awkward side hug, "you'll be able to leave in a few weeks."

"Where exactly am I?"

"You're in downtown Boston. Go to the cafeteria down the hall." She points to show Nico the direction. Then she winks and adds "Be careful not to drink any tea."

Nico stares at her. Then he supposes he has to laugh at her feeble attempt at a joke and chokes out a fake laugh. Juniper cracks a smile and pats his shoulder (which turns out to be awkward because she is several inches shorter than him), and turns down the hall.

Nico heads back to the cafeteria where a plate of bacon, pancakes and eggs sits at a table. Piper and Leo sit there, laughing at some joke. Nico wishes they would just go away. Leo never seems to shut up and Piper is insane. Nico makes his way over to the table and sits down next to Piper.

"I was wondering when you'd be back," Piper says. "Macy said that you were having a mental breakdown."

"Well tell Macy to shut the fuck up because she doesn't know shit," Nico croaks. He stands up and throws away his food. A person standing in the corner makes a note on a clipboard. Nico supposes he's lost another few points for not eating.

"Well," Leo says, staring at the trash can that Nico had just thrown his food away, "since breakfast is over, let's go to the rec room before Group."

The rec room turns out to be a room with a dingy green couch, another couch but this one was red, a fraying armchair (which a 50 year old man snores in), a person with a clipboard in every corner, and a wall mounted TV.

"Those people are techs," Piper whispers to Nico. Then, sensing his confusion she adds "They're the people who determine when you can leave."

Nico wants to ask how she knows that but she'll probably answer with something concerning her invisible friend Macy. Nico sits down on the red couch, brings his knees to his chest, wraps his arms around his legs and places his chin on top of his knees. Leo sits a few inches away and Piper sits on the opposite end of the couch and places her socked feet in Leo's lap. Nico notices a tech pull out a fire extinguisher and place it near him.

"Why did that tech just pull out a fire extinguisher?" Nico asks Leo as Leo turns on the TV.

"'Cause yesterday I set another fire," Leo replies as the Netflix logo appears. "I'm a pyromaniac, someone who has an 'irresistible urge to start fires.' I just like fires. They look cool."

"Yeah, tell that to my burned tennis shoes," Piper says. "Macy is still pissed off at you." Leo rolls his eyes as if saying _'can you believe her?'_ Nico almost smiles.

"I keep telling you _I didn't mean too. _Besides we all know they looked like shit."

"Whatever. To make up for my loss we're going to watch _Say Yes to the Dress_." Leo groans.

"That show is as dumb as shit," he mutters, but selects the show anyway.

Three weeks later and Nico has fallen into a strict routine. It's mostly is group therapy, individual therapy, or some sort of mix of the two. He spends all of the time in between the therapy with Leo and Piper, whom he has grown very close to. One day, about a week into Nico's stay, Leo accidentally set fire to Nico's Nirvana hoodie while Nico was taking his clothes to the laundry room (quickly burning the hoodie to ashes), earning him a punch in the face from Nico, and an hour of confinement in his room from the techs. Needless to say, Leo didn't set anymore fires near his friend.

"Macy says that you're grown close to us," Piper whispers to Nico as they watch the movie _Finding Nemo_ in the rec room with the rest of the people in the psychiatric ward.

"Well I guess you're my friends," Nico whispers back. His throat has healed, but his voice still comes out a little scratchy.

"Leo really likes you, you know."

Nico almost coughs up the popcorn a tech nearly threatened him to eat. "_What_?"

"Leo likes you," Piper repeats, eyes glued to the TV screen. The blue fish is currently making retarded noises that sound like a dying walrus. Nico isn't sure what a dying walrus sounds like, but he's pretty sure the blue fish sounds like one.

"No he doesn't," Nico replies. No one can like him. He's too fucked up. He tried to commit suicide for God's sake! He still has the scabs from the cuts that nearly caused him to die. He just yesterday screamed at a tech for asking if he had any family. He was anorexic, depressed, and suicidal. How could anyone love _him_?

"Macy tells me that you're upset or confused or both," Piper whispers. "Leo is a nice guy, but he has moderate Asperger's so he doesn't always know what other people are feeling. He's really trying, you know. He's not as invincible as everyone thinks he is."

Nico looks down at Leo, who had fallen asleep within the first ten minutes of the movie. He had fallen asleep with his head resting in Nico's lap. At first Nico had been sort of pissed off, but by now he doesn't really mind. The lights from the TV were casting dark shadows across Leo's elfish features. It hits Nico how young Leo really is. He can't be more than a year or two older than Nico, but being here makes him look a lot older. Sleeping, Leo looks like a small, innocent child stuck in a big, harsh world.

Nico doesn't reply to Piper, but he can tell from the way she's smiling that he doesn't need to.

Nico is sitting on Leo's bed, watching Leo sketch a design for a flying ship. Leo worked at an auto mechanic shop before coming to Olympus, and he still likes to sketch designs to show his boss when he gets back. Piper's not allowed in because there's a strict no girls allowed in boy's room and vice versa. She's also with one of her other friends, a girl named Katie Gardner.

"You do realize a flying ship isn't possible, right?" Nico says, watching Leo sketch.

"Yeah, I know," Leo answers. He pushes the papers away from him and sits on the bed next to Nico. "Piper finally took her medicine. She seems a lot less trance-like."

"Yeah, I've noticed that."

Nico drums his fingers against his legs. The heat in Leo's room is shit, so it's freezing in there. Leo flops backwards, landing with a dull _thud._

"Today's the 12 year anniversary," he says and laughs bitterly.

"What 12 year anniversary?" Nico asks and lies on his back, next to Leo.

"My mother's death," Leo says all in one breath. He takes a deep sigh and continues. "She died in her workplace because some dumbfuck was smoking while working on a car engine and the gasoline caught fire and the building almost burned down. I guess you could say that was the start of my pyromaniacness."

Nico wants to say that pyromaniacness isn't a word, but he feels like that would ruin the mood, so he doesn't say anything. Leo is breathing heavily so Nico can tell that he's trying not to cry. Nico grabs Leo's hand, and immediately curses himself. Leo tenses for a moment, but soon returns the pressure in Nico's hand as well.

"We're truly fucked up, aren't we?" Leo asks Nico.

"I guess you could say that," Nico replies. Leo squeezes Nico's hand.

They lie there until the intercom announces that dinner is ready.

"You will be leaving on Thursday, Mr. di Angelo," a chubby tech by the name of Frank tells Nico. Nico can tell that Frank is uncomfortable around him, amusing him but the news that he just received surprises him. He had begun to think of Olympus Psychiatric Ward as his home. He has been so caught up in the little bubble of the ward that he has nearly forgotten that there was an outside world.

"Where will I go?" Nico asks. Frank looks down at his clipboard, obviously uncomfortable.

"Well, you can't go back to the university since you've missed nearly two months of school. You don't have an apartment, so that's a no too. Your cousin Thalia invited you to stay with her, but she, um, she sounded very _drunk_ when she answered. She's currently in a rehabilitation center for alcoholics. Her boyfriend Luke left her. Your other cousin Jason invited you to live with him, but Jason is currently studying abroad in Rome and you need someone to make sure you take your meds so that's a no too." Frank wrings his hands. "If we don't find any suitable house for you, we'll have to place you in a homeless center."

"But I have a home!" Nico argues. "My _mama_ bought a house before she…" Nico trails off, the loss of his _mama_ and sister stabbing him like a fresh wound. Frank coughs awkwardly.

"Yes, well you see, you need other inhabitants in the proximity to make sure you take your medications."

"I'm 19 years old," Nico snarles. "I can take care of myself." Frank looks like he'd rather be talking to a full grown grizzly bear.

"Yes, well, you're not considered exactly _mentally stable_…"

Nico feels hot anger rise in the pit of his stomach. He's sick and tired of these goddamn techs telling him how to act, how he's feeling and how he should act. Nico turns away and goes into the rec room where he finds Leo telling an animated story to a small group of girls. Nico stomps into the room, grabs Leo by the elbow and yanks him out into the hall.

"I'm fucking leaving on Thursday," Nico hisses. Leo looks confused.

"I thought all you wanted to do was leave here," Leo says.

"Yeah, but what about… you know… _us_?"

Leo's face immediately flushes bright red. "Well, I'm leaving on Thursday too," he mutters. Nico's eyes widen in surprise. "You could come and live with me," Leo continues. "When Piper gets out, she's coming to live in my house too."

"Wait- really?" Nico asks. "Are you sure there would be enough room?"

Leo looks over his shoulder for any strolling techs. When there are any, he takes Nico's hands in his own.

"Nico, look. You're like my first ever _real_ relationship. I don't want to fuck it up."

And suddenly Nico is crying because Leo is so good to him even though Nico knows he doesn't deserve it. Leo embraces Nico and rubs his back until he stops crying. They stand there for several moments until Nico breaks the silence.

"Why are you so good to me?" he murmurs into the crook of Leo's neck.

"Because you're worth it," Leo murmurs back.

_**One month later**_

The whole house seems to be full of this energy that Nico hasn't felt since before Bianca and his _mama_ were alive. Leo is running around the small house, adjusting decorations on the mantle (_they're fine Leo)_, fixing a string of fairy lights out on the porch _(you've checked them five times already, Leo)_, making sure that Piper put the apple pie out on the table _(Leo, chill!)_, and checking to see if Nico still has his Santa hat on _(Leo, I hate this fucking hat, just let me take it off!)_.

"Hey, Nico do you still have your hat- dammit!"

"What?" Nico looks up from his copy of _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ which is basically murdering his eyes because of his dyslexia but he loves the book so he just has to deal with it. Leo would sometimes read to him when Nico's dyslexia was being bitchier than normal, but since Leo is currently freaking out about every little thing Nico decides that it's better to wait and ask his boyfriend to read to him.

"The fire! I forgot the goddamn fire!" Leo screeches, bringing out Piper from the kitchen. She takes a look at Leo with his crazy curly hair and the crazed look in his eyes, and returns back to the kitchen.

"Leo, calm down," Nico says. "We can light the fire now. Thalia and Jason won't be here for a few more minutes."

"You don't understand!" Leo shouts. "If we light the fire now, the fumes won't get a lot of oxygen and when your cousins come we will have the world's smallest and shittiest fire! It'll be all small and retarded looking! Then this year will forever be known as 2013- the year that the world's shittiest Christmas fire was created!"

Nico doesn't really see the problem- it's just a fire- but Leo loves fire (Nico and Piper make sure that all the matches are kept under lock-and-key) so it must be a big deal for him. Nico places his hands on Leo's shoulders. He's breathing really heavily, and Nico's concerned that he's going to pass out.

"Leo," Nico says, massaging Leo's shoulders, "it doesn't matter if we have to world's most shit fire ever, it only matters if I'm here with you."

"But they're your family!" Leo protests. "What if they don't like me?"

"They'll love you." Nico stands up on his tiptoes and kisses Leo's forehead.

Suddenly the doorbell rings.

"I've got it!" Piper shouts from the kitchen.

"Move! I gotta make the fucking fire!" Leo exclaims. Nico wants to tell Leo that technically he's not supposed to be within a 10 radius of matches, but Nico doesn't because Leo's already blowing on the flames to get them started.

"Nico!" Jason exclaims as he walks into the living room. He's carrying a large load of Christmas gifts and Nico is almost positive he sees an iPad box (Leo has been saving up for one _forever_ it seems like). Piper follows behind Jason, looking absolutely smitten. "How's it going, my man?"

"It's been going good," Nico replies. Thalia enters the room, arm in arm with a dark haired girl.

"Guys, this is Zoë Nightshade. She's my girlfriend" Thalia says. "I met her at the, um, rehab center."

"Hi," Zoë says, blushing.

Nico grins wickedly at Thalia, who flicks him off.

"I'm Leo," Leo says, standing up and sticks his hand out. He sounds like a monotone robot. "I met Nico at Olympus." Thalia awkwardly shakes his hand.

"Dude, chill out," Nico whispers. "They're not going to rip your head off."

"Where can I put these?" Jason asks from behind the large load of presents. Piper takes his hand and guides him to the tree that has all the presents under it.

"Let's eat, shall we?" Leo asks, and leads his guests to the dining room.

Nico sits in Leo's lap, watching Charlie Brown fuck things up even more than even Leo could concoct. Piper and Jason are having a not-so-private make out session in the armchair. Zoë is asleep, her head resting on Thalia's shoulder. Thalia picks a silver bow from a present and sticks it on Zoë's shoulder. Nico shoots Thalia a questioning look, and Thalia replies by rolling her eyes.

"I think I'm in love with you," Leo whispers to Nico. Nico feels his face heat up, but replies in what he hopes is a steady voice.

"I think I love you too."

And as Nico sits in Leo's lap, with his arms around his waist and the fire crackling beside them, making one side of Nico's body as hot as hell and the other side as cold as Antarctica, Nico doesn't _think_ he's in love with Leo Valdez.

He _knows_.

**Yo, long time no write. Well, have I got news for you.**

**First of all, I got a tumblr (distant roar of cheers)! So follow me at .com ****because I need more followers what?**

**Second of all, HoH has been released AND HOLY FUCKING SHIT I FUCKING NEW NICO WAS GAY BEFORE THE SPOILER WAS EVEN RELEASED HAHAHAHA I'M PHYSIC!**

**Third of all, my birthday is on the 21****st**** of December! So happy early birthday to me **

**Fourth of all, I saw Thor the Dark World and can I just say that Loki is the baddest badass out there? Like damn he's supermegafoxyawesomehot!**

**Fifth of all, pleeeeaaasssseee follow me on tumblr! If you do I will give you infinite cyber cookies and hugs. Plus I might add more to this fanfic if you do **hint hint** **wink wink****

**Peace out until next time,**

**~thatravenclawgirl**


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